#FloatABoat Campaign By Paper Boat

About Paper Boat:

In April 2011, four friends Neeraj Kakkar, Suhas Misra, Neeraj Biyani and James Nuttall started a startup Hector Beverages based in Gurgaon and rolled out Tzinga in Delhi and Bangalore for almost one-fifth of the cost of the biggest energy drink brand in the market, Red Bull. The drink was a hit at early stage but soon distribution cost and limited variants of Tzinga became a problem. They needed more production options and breakeven looked a remote possibility. But on one hot summer day, when all of them were having lunch together, Nuttall decided to make aam panna. “Misra used to get aam panna made by his mother, and it was terrific. That was the genesis of Paper Boat,” says Kakkar.

Paper Boat started with two variants in August 2013: aam panna and jaljeera. These were followed by aamras, kalakhatta, kokum, golgappe ka pani and imli. The drinks are packed in squishy pouches that are easy to carry and are part of the brand’s appeal in urban India. Hector’s Paper Boat range of drinks currently account for 75% of its sales. It’s also one of the few home-grown beverage brands to have tasted success.

Hector Beverages has opened its second manufacturing plant in Mysore to meet growing demand. Hector also sells Paper Boat in the US, Malaysia, Dubai and the UK, mainly catering to people of Indian origin. It has also tied up with British supermarket chain Tesco Plc to sell its products in London. The company has also tied up with Indo Nissin, owner of popular brand Top Ramen noodles, to expand its distribution in Tier II cities and rural pockets of India.

Free Digital Marketing Webinar

Date: 26th May, 2018 (Sat)Time: 11 AM to 12:30 PM (IST/GMT +5:30)

Paper Boat’s Vision:

The energy drink market is approximately estimated to be Rs 500 crore and growing at 40 per cent a year and the company wants to capture a major share in this market.

Paper Boat’s brand proposition is ‘Drinks & Memories’ and with this Paper Boat company endeavor to bring back childhood to those from whom it had been snatched. Human beings belonging to any age group, each of us have a child within us and have many childhood memorable stories. Paper Boat, the company that makes drinks one usually have at home like aam panna, golgappe ka pani, jamun kala khatta and kokum, wants us to go back to our childhood days and relive those childhood memories again.

#FloatABoat Campaign Strategy:

#FloatABoat has the right blend of a cause campaign, one that will not only help establish Paper Boat’s brand proposition of ‘Drinks & Memories’, but also bring back childhood to those from whom it had been snatched. Paper Boat launched the #FloatABoat Campaign during monsoon season with objective of tying up childhood, paper boats and schooling with a common thread. The brand tried to bring the three together for its cause campaign aimed to educate needy children.

Commenting on the launch of the initiative, Neeraj Kakkar, Founder and CEO, Hector Beverages, said that “the monsoons were the perfect time to roll out this campaign and relive innocent moments. In a world that is getting hectic by the minute, it serves as a reminder that there are still a few simple pleasures that can re-capture the magic of childhood – like making and floating a paper boat.” He added, “This is also our little initiative to gift a bit of childhood to people who really need it.”

The company was aiming to receive a minimum of 10 lakh uploads in 2-3 months.”

To participate in that initiative one only needed to make a paper boat, upload a picture of their paper boat on the Paper Boat site or on their social media pages like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and hashtag the post as #FloatABoat.

For #FloatABoat, Paper Boat had teamed up with Parivaar, a West Bengal-based humanitarian service organization that works for the development of less fortunate children like orphans, girl-children and children from tribal areas. And every image of paper boat that was shared on any social network, the brand donated Rs. 20 towards children education.

In the second part of the campaign, a letter was delivered to customers who purchased the product through Amazon and Paytm. This letter educated the reader about the cause and also gave them a playful reason to make a paper boat.

Free Digital Marketing Webinar

Date: 26th May, 2018 (Sat)Time: 11 AM to 12:30 PM (IST/GMT +5:30)

Video Ad:

In 1.46 min video of rainy a day while the children were allowed to play outside the class, their parents attended a special class. The class was not regular parent’s teachers meeting but instead parent’s were handed 2 scrap papers each. And to the parent’s surprise they were asked to make paper boat out of those. As expected only few of them succeeded in making paper boats. The teacher then called the children inside the class and asked them to help their parents make paper boats.

At the end an audio is played saying, “Do you still remember how to make paper boats? Make one and stay like a child with every fold.” Through the audio company asks people to upload those paper boats online as #FloatABoat and for every boat uploaded Rs.20 would be shared for children education. The company also requested people to spread the word and participate for a good cause.

While Social networks reflected user response to the campaign the brand’s social media pages were inviting people to be a part of the campaign, #FloatABoat has caused many timelines to be jammed with paper boats.

Twitter Post:

Done eating bhel? Love letter came back to you? Want to dress up an *awful* report card? Simple! Just #FloatABoat!

Your boat counts! Cast your boats for #FloatABoat!

YouTube Videos:

Hope Floats – Paper Boat (Drinks & Memories) #FloatABoat

How to make a Paper Boat – By Paper Boat (Drinks & Memories) #FloatABoat

FloatABoat Campaign’s Success:

The videos loaded on YouTube got more than 40 thousand views in mere 5 months and the emotional touch stays on with large number of viewers.

Company plans to roll out a lot more variants, at least 25 variants in total.

The brand now is available across 20,000 retail outlets including coffee chains such as Barista Lavazza, airlines such as Indigo and Jet Airways and hotels such as Westin and Trident.

231 boats were uploaded onto the site by mid July’15.

The Paper Boat donations will go to approximately 805 children, housed by Parivaar Ashram.

Company has two plants in Manesar and Mysore has plans to set up a third plant.

Key Learnings:

Campaign turned out to be Timely, Engaging & Memorable.

#FloatABoat has the right blend of a cause campaign and establish Paper Boat’s brand proposition of ‘Drinks & Memories’.

Through the campaign company also brings back childhood to those who had distanced from it.

With social networks brand fans and consumers got involved in a good cause, in a fun way.